SWE Team Tech recognition representative of overall excellence

The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was well recognized at the national SWE Annual Conference this fall, receiving a conference-record eight awards, ranging from the Gold Level Outstanding Collegiate Section Award, to a first place Collegiate Communications Award, to a second place finish in the Boeing Team Tech Competition.

With more than 7,000 students and professionals attending the Annual Conference, such recognition of excellence on multiple levels is worthy of high praise.

“This is a record for the total number of awards won by a single university at the conference,” said Supriya Hobbs, President of the University of Illinois SWE section. “We sent 52—37 undergraduate and 15 graduate students—to this year’s annual conference. This is significantly higher than the typical number of students who attend the annual conference from collegiate sections.”

Many of the awards SWE received were in recognition of overall excellence throughout the academic year. Others, like the Boeing Team Tech Competition, were project-based and required over a year of preparation.

“For the Team Tech competition, we spent over a year working on the project our corporate sponsor gave us.” said Alex Knicker, director of the Team Tech committee. “My job was to find a company to sponsor us and work with us over the course of the year we are allotted to work on it. We had weekly meetings with our industrial advisor for the entire year, including the summer beforehand.”

The team’s goal was to construct an implementable, environmentally friendly product that could simplify life in developing countries.

“We designed an off-the-shelf solar battery power system for developing countries,” Knicker explained. “We were trying to make a product we could bring to Africa since they have a lot of solar radiance in many of their areas.”

The scope of the project goes far beyond that of a solar powered battery. The long term goal is to implement their technology on a much larger, more effective scale.

“We wanted to program a load manager system that could handle the solar energy coming in and meet the demands of a small community, allowing people without current access to the grids to have the system next to their home power their light bulbs, fans, and other small appliances,” Knicker added. “Since our project was a proof of concept, the main motivation was to prove our design could not only be realistically implemented, but also that it was economically feasible and actually beneficial for those using it. It’s also a huge plus that it’s great for the environment.”

As usual with SWE, the team got far more out of their Team Tech experience than their top-place finish; hands-on experience in an industry of interest and exposure to experienced professionals are the kind of residual benefits that make competitions like Team Tech such an invaluable experience.

“I have always been passionate about environmental engineering. Reducing energy use is something I really care about,” Knicker remarked. “Plus, there were multiple office visits with our corporate sponsor that were great for our entire team since they got to network with the advisors.”

While the Team Tech award celebrated the SWE team’s exception performance in a project-based competition, many of their other awards, such as the Collegiate Membership Award, Collegiate to Career Award, Collegiate Membership Transition Award and Collegiate Membership Retention Award recognize SWE for its excellence on a daily basis. 

“We really focus on bonding and getting to know everyone, which creates a special environment for everyone to learn and grow. The levels of leadership in SWE allow for the sharing of experiences on multiple different levels,” added Knicker. “The mentorship within SWE is something that I think everyone really benefits from. Undergraduates are able to speak with all kinds of upperclassman about topics ranging from registering for classes to the best way to approach the career fair.”

Looking forward, Knicker hopes to attend graduate school to pursue her environmental engineering education with a long term goal of working for an engineering consulting firm that offers eco-friendly solutions. Looking back, she attributes much of her growth to her involvement with SWE, and offers strong advice to any underclassmen considering joining.

“[Any undergraduate engineer looking to get involved in SWE should] absolutely do it. It will pay off in so many ways. You may start off with small general meetings, but if you really get involved you will see how many amazing things SWE has to offer. When I look back at my undergraduate self, I’ve grown in so many different ways through SWE. It really helps develop personal and professional character. Best of all,” as Knicker concluded, “you will meet so many lifelong friends who will help you during, and even beyond college.